Kawasaki World Superbike Team To Test At Motorland Aragon

Recently crowned Superbike World Champion Tom Sykes and his team-mate Loris Baz will conduct their next 2014 winter tests at the Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain between 14 and 15 November.

With new regulations affecting some technical aspects of all the machines that will compete in SBK in 2014 Tom and Loris have already tested the latest specification KRT Ninja ZX-10R at the Jerez circuit.

The official Kawasaki riders are now heading to the very different Motorland Aragon facility for two days of hard work. Sykes and Baz will make confirmations of some parts and strategies that showed to be real improvements at the recent Jerez tests and also try out the latest developments parts from KHI and the teams’ partners.

Tom has had little rest since winning the championship on the final day of the season on 20 October but is looking forward to another outing on track at the well-appointed Motorland circuit. Loris, who missed the final few rounds due to a back injury, continues his strong recovery and is now heading to another challenging circuit he enjoys riding at.

Tom Sykes: “We’re all looking forward to getting back to testing at Motorland and hope the weather is kind to us. There are some items we need to evaluate but we should also be testing a few things we tried in Jerez again, just to confirm the performance of them on a different track. Testing itself is something I always look forward to, just to keep myself up to speed and get to know the bike even better as it develops. I hope that the weather in Aragon is an improvement we have in the UK right now, because it has been terrible here recently!”

Loris Baz: “I am looking forward to this test because we still have quite a lot of things to try and I am sure we can make another step forward. We will see how the weather will be but I am sure we can make good steps if the weather is nice. It may be difficult to have just the same kind of warm conditions we had at the most recent Jerez tests. Aragon is a really complex track because you have everything – a fast straight, long corners, slow corners, and fast changes of direction. It is going to be good to work again and I am looking forward to getting on the bike.”

Guim Roda, Team Manager: “Motorland Aragon is only two hours from the KRT workshop, so it is good place for us to test. We have completed many kilometres there in the recent past and because of that we have clear idea of how the bike must be set up there. That last point is very useful because it enables us to test many things with a clear understanding of which steps to take. KHI is working really hard to make the bike more competitive next year and we are improving some of the points we need to work on. Tom and Loris are very impatient to ride the bike again. We are in contact with them often during the week and they are really excited to try to improve the bike and start the new season in Australia stronger than ever. Loris has been in our workshop three times since the last test and Tom is keen to test and continue working on the bike to make the package even better in 2014. We have to say that all our suppliers are working hard to give us solutions or ideas they consider will help improve our Ninja ZX-10R. It means we will have a lot of jobs for just two days of testing.”